The present invention relates to vehicle license plates, and, more particularly, to a Smart Vehicle Registration Plate capable of dynamically updating and displaying information.
It is customary for vehicles traveling in the United States and in other countries to have a vehicle registration plate, or license plate. This vehicle registration plate is normally positioned at the rear and often also at the front of the vehicle, usually near the bumpers of the vehicle. The registration plate provides information such as the registration number of the vehicle as well as the state to which the vehicle is registered.
Under many circumstances, it is important for persons to be able to view information located on the registration plate. For example, it is often important for the vehicle registration plate to be viewed by police, who need to know pertinent information about a vehicle when pulling the vehicle to the side of the road for a violation of the traffic laws or for other reasons. Also, during an accident, such as, for example, a hit-and-run, other motorists may need to be able to view the information on the registration plate. Further, if the vehicle is abandoned, a visible vehicle registration plate allows the proper authorities to quickly identify the vehicle.
Many vehicle registration plates are made of metal, sometimes with stamped or raised letters, which are usually also painted on. Since viewing the registration number and state information on these vehicle registration plates is often difficult, especially during evening hours, special light colored or reflective paints have been used in order to enhance visibility of these registration plates. Additionally, many vehicles are manufactured with lights especially designed to illuminate the registration plate.
These methods of enhancing visibility of the registration plates, however, often still result in a vehicle registration plate that is difficult for a police officer or other persons to read and comprehend.
Further, while the registration number and state of registration are often displayed on the registration plate, outside observers as well as the driver of the vehicle may benefit from the displaying of other pertinent information relating to the vehicle and to the driver of the vehicle.
With regard to this additional helpful information, much of this additional information is dynamic in nature and changes as the driver and vehicle pass into different regions and areas, or undergo other changes in circumstances such as the vehicle becoming involved in an accident, or being rendered disabled, or the driver experiencing a medical emergency.
These types of dynamically changing information can not be displayed by conventional registration plates, which, due to their nature, do not facilitate the updating of information, but only display static, unchanging information.
In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention is directed to a Smart Vehicle Registration Plate for a vehicle. The Smart Vehicle Registration Plate may have a computing unit configured to process vehicle related information, and a front surface having a display, the display having one or more information display regions, for displaying the processed vehicle related information external to the vehicle. The information display regions are controlled by and may be updated by the computing unit as a function of changes to the vehicle related information.
The Smart Vehicle Registration Plate may take the form of a registration or license plate, and may be positioned on a vehicle as would a standard registration plate or license plate, although other positions may be used. Information normally displayed on a vehicle registration plate, as well as additional vehicle related information, may be displayed by the Smart Vehicle Registration Plate. Further, the vehicle related information displayed by the Smart Vehicle Registration Plate may be changed or updated as pertinent vehicle related information changes. Additionally, the Smart Vehicle Registration Plate may also communicate and exchange data with other Smart Vehicle Registration Plates or outside entities such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, police, or emergency workers, and the like. Some non-limiting examples of displayed vehicle related information may be a vehicle registration number; an expiration date; a state identifier; an emergency message; a personal message region; a country identifier; a county identifier; last accident/violation region; and the driver""s experience driving in a particular geographic area.